Adapting

Course Purpose

Marketing 2 students will assist with managing Marketing 1 students response to negative, constructive, and/or confusing feedback from the client.

The Western States ® 100-Mile Endurance Run is the world’s oldest 100-mile trail race. Starting in Squaw Valley, California near the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics and ending 100.2 miles later in Auburn, California, Western States, in the decades since its inception in 1974, has come to represent one of the ultimate endurance tests in the world.

Following the historic Western States Trail, runners climb more than 18,000 feet and descend nearly 23,000 feet before they reach the finish line at Placer High School in Auburn. In the miles between Squaw Valley and Auburn, runners experience the majestic high country beauty of Emigrant Pass and the Granite Chief Wilderness, the crucible of the canyons of the California gold country, a memorable crossing of the ice-cold waters of the main stem of the Middle Fork of the American River, and, during the latter stages, the historic reddish-brown-colored trails that led gold-seeking prospectors and homesteading pilgrims alike to the welcoming arms of Auburn.

To say the least, the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run is a true test of Grit. The crazy thing is a guy named Scott Jurek won it 7 years in a row (1999-2005). Jurek had completely dominated the race and its challengers for 7 straight years.

Then in 2006, Jurek, the reigning ultra-marathon runner in the world, traveled to Mexico's remote Copper Canyon with a group of runners including Christopher McDougall and Jenn Shelton to participate in a race against the Tarahumara Indians organized by Micah True, who was also known as "Caballo Blanco". Jurek narrowly lost to the fastest Tarahumara runner, Arnulfo Quimare.

This is a crazy thing to consider when you have a bit more information. The Tarahumara are a group of indigenous people of the Americas living in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico. The Tarahumara live in the high sierras and canyons away from technological sophistication. They retreated to this place to avoid the Spanish invaders in the 16th century. The Tarahumara commonly hunt with bow and arrows, but are also known for their ability to run down deer and wild turkeys. Anthropologist Jonathan F. Cassel describes the Tarahumaras’ hunting abilities: "the Tarahumara literally run the birds to death in what is referred to as persistence hunting. Forced into a rapid series of takeoffs, without sufficient rest periods between, the heavy-bodied bird does not have the strength to fly or run away from the Tarahumara hunter."

To get back to running, we now understand that a highly trained athlete in Steve Jurek as beat by a man who simply runs to live in Arnulfo Quimare. Most people would have shut down at this point, similar to Ronda Rousey after being defeated for the first time. Steve Jurek's response was to embrace the loss and learn from it. He refined his craft and developed his skill from what he experienced from the Tarahumara.

In 2007, Jurek returned to win the race.

As we shift to the specifics of this lesson I want to get something out of the way. There is a strong chance some of you have not experienced a great deal of struggle in life. In many ways, some of you have not been provided the opportunity to develop the skills we are going to unpack today. In the era of paver parents and helicopter parents, there simply is not much room for struggle.

Unfortunately, this is a disservice to people who are trying to learn and develop as humans. For the roots of knowledge are bitter, but its fruit is sweet. Developing a craft or skill is not in intended to be easy. In fact, at its best it will be hard.

In Shop Class as Soulcraft, Matthew B. Crawford discusses at length the value in having a craft. Much like running an ultramarathon, a craft has a product that will be reviewed and judged. He states, "Boasting is what a boy does, because he has no real effect in the world. Bu the tradesman must reckon with the infallible judgement of reality, where one's failures or shortcomings cannot be interpreted away. His well-founded pride is far from the gratuitous "self-esteem" that educators would impart to students, as though by magic."

This is true because craftsmanship refers to objective standards that do not issue from the self and its desires, but come from something beyond the individual interpretation. Craftsmanship means dwelling on a task for a long time and going deeply into it, because you want to get it right.

The point that Crawford makes through out his books is that a craft forces one to wrestle with more than simply knowing out to put something together through facts. His practical application of this is a motorcycle. For a motorcycle to work it requires a great deal of engineering and thought. For a motorcycle to be fixed, it requires a great deal of engineering, problem-solving, machining, and welding.

The point I am attempting to drive home from Crawford's book is that a craft, be it motorcycle repair or oil canvas painting, takes time, failure, and response to develop. To become the master of one's stuff is an element of human flourishing because it requires the pursuit of excellence.

In our Betty Crocker culture, where all we need is a little water and eggs to make a cake, it is incredibly hard to accept the hardship that is required for deep understanding.

Angela Duckworth expanded on the principles we have been discussing a great deal in her book "Grit." Duckworth defines grit as "perseverance and passion for long-term goals." She says grit is more about stamina than intensity. This is important to understand because her theory of developing grit is based largely on a persons effort over the long haul to develop skill that will lead to achievement. Mathematically, it looks like this:

Skill (talent X effort) x Effort = Achievement

You should note that her achievement equation factors effort in twice. It is her belief that effort is twice as valuable as talent in determining the success of an individuals endeavors.

This principal was captured in Darwin's own autobiography when he wrote, "I have no great quickness of apprehension that is so remarkable in some clever men. My power to follow a long and purely abstract train of thought is very limited." Whether you agree with his developments or not, Darwin succeeded through pure stamina, not talent.

Grit is made up of two elements: passion (purpose) and perseverance. The two questions that stem from this are simple:

1. Do you love what you are doing?
2. Are you willing to stick with it?

In branding we complete a personal brand, that starts with a vision of the good life for yourself. Grit is about how convicted you are to that being the vision of the good life. How committed are you to ensuring that vision comes to life on a day to day basis. The more committed you are, the more likely you are to make it happen over time. This is especially true in the face of failure.

1. Engage in deliberate practice
   • Focus on your personal weaknesses and give them your greatest concentration.
   • Turn the practice into a habit with a schedule
2. See how your work impacts other people, not just yourself
   • Fund-raisers who express stronger prosocial motives and who found he work intrinsically engaging made more calls than others.
   • Focus on finding ways you can connect your work to core values you hold
3. Hold out hope
   • optimists outsell pessimists by 20 to 40 percent.
   • students with a optimistic teacher outperform those students who do not have an optimistic teacher.

Questions

• Examine the relationship between trial and development.
• Why does excellence and expertise require time and skill?
• Do you believe that achievement is 2 parts effort and 1 part skill? How do you live out your response?

Sources

• Shop Class as Soulcraft by Matthew B. Crawford
• Grit by Angela Duckworth
• Born to Run by Christopher McDougall